A robust management scheme that focuses on accelerating the protection and security of the Grebo/ Krahn National Park in the truest sense of the word has been officially released by all stakeholders in Monrovia.
The scheme was developed the end of a four – day workshop beginning November 11-14, 2019.
According to a release the scheme was formulated by the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) in collaboration with the OIPR and International protected area management consultant Tamar Ron and supported by the GIZ/AMBERO.
The strategy is named and styled “Integrated Management Effectiveness Tool (IMET) is expected to infuse more vigor to the management of the Grebo National park located in Grand Gedeh and River Gee Counties in the south east.
The IMET is an internationally acceptable mechanism often applied to a given area where conservation results are deemed agreeable and supportable.
More importantly, the planning, monitoring and evaluation of protected areas within the Tai-Grebo-Krahn and Sapo landscapes is a paramount tool to guide management decisions and ensure the harmonization in the frame work of an improved transboundary cooperation between Liberia and Ivory Coast, the release adds.
In the spirit of the framework of the current technical cooperation between the Ivorian office of Parks and Reserves (OIPR) and the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) a training of trainers workshop was organized in Abidjan to build capacity on the IMET instrument to technicians from OIPR and FDA in July 2019.
Hence, the workshop was aimed at enhancing the understanding of the tool by both technicians from Liberia and the Ivory Coast to enable them practically apply it to the Grebo/Krahn National Park and make it operationally feasible as far as international standard is concerned.
Under the IMET arrangement 16 staff members from the FDA are expected to be trained to enable them access the effectiveness of the Grebo/Krahn National Park in different yet equally important aspects of its management. The tool will also essentially enable them identify threats, challenges and opportunities while placing them in the able position to review the vision and identify the goals as well as management objectives consistent with the management of the park.
At the same time FDA Managing Director C. Mike Doryen has described the IMET tool as a worthwhile instrument which according to him will go a long way in providing sustained security and protection of the park. In his official closing remarks at the occasion, he challenged the current generation to do all it can to be remembered by history as far as the conservation of nature is concerned.
In collaboration with the staff members of the FDA, other partners that will ensure that the IMET tool is successful include Liberia Land Authority (LLA), Flora & Fuana International (FFI), and World Chimpanzee Foundation (WCF) Society for the Conservation of Nature in Liberia (SCNL) LISPED, CENFOR, among others.
